Unmasking of EU during eurozone crisis

“Thank you Yannis and I’m glad to be here. Yes I’m Irish and I’m an Independent MEP who represents nearly a million people. For that reason I must speak for them first. For It was in Ireland and Greece that unmasking of at least some parts of the EU occurred.

Two governments were bullied into acting against the mandate and the interests of their own people. And in some way they allowed it. First came the Lisbon Treaty. The Irish people voted against it. This didn’t suit the powers in Europe. So Lisbon rose from its grave and lumbered into another referendum and things went went downhill from there. More threats from three institutions and the influence of the US forced us into a bailout and prevented the burning of bondholders. And Greece? Let us not forget that only a short while ago a Greek Prime Minster was subject to what was described as “extensive psychological water boarding”, locked in a room with his Finance Minister and the Eurogroup. This was widely colluded with by EVERY MEMBER OF THAT GROUP. An MOU was signed under duress and is of course failing because of insane economics and inhuman policies. It doesn’t matter that there are mixed views of Mr Tsipras. None of this should have happened.

We must not forget what this means. We must not become accepting of it. This is not democracy. It is coercion and the abuse of power. It is NOT what the EU should be! There are after all many good things in the Lisbon Treaty. Among them the charter of fundamental rights. But we have allowed it to be violated by the actions of Troikas. We can stop this happening again.
How is Diem to engage with such a system? Do we need power and what kind? At some point should Diem itself run candidates in elections? In Ireland the grassroots right to change movement ( two of whom are here), have over 90 candidates running in our imminent election. We have a unique election system that allows this to happen and for Independent MEP like myself to exist. These are just some of questions that need an answer. From all of us.

Diem could be the beginning of something good. But to do that it must reach the millions of citizens outside these walls living lives of desperation. If we do not, those people will turn to others whose ideas have no connection to democracy. The very opposite of Diem. This has happened before. So what if we are utopian? Doing nothing is not an option.”